MORE NEWS, 1-12: OHIO READY TO MAKE WIND; CHINA TO PILOT SOLAR-BIOMASS HYBRID; DETAILS ON BIOFUELS RISKS; ENFORCING EMISSIONS TRADING LAWS

OHIO READY TO MAKE WIND
Industries ready to ride the wind; 170 businesses make bearings, hydraulics, sensors, fasteners, other goods needed to produce turbines
Bob Downing, January 11, 2010 (Akron Journal Beacon)

"Ohio is chasing the wind — and the dollars it can produce.

"Around the world, wind is a booming, $40 billion-a-year industry that is growing at 30 percent a year…Ohio, however, is far behind other states in developing wind. Six wind farms are pending…[O]thers are looking at developing the United States' first offshore wind farm using Lake Erie…[But] the state is poised to enjoy a big economic impact through its wind-power suppliers."

Wind offers opportunity in a wide range of blue collar work. (click to enlarge)

"…[A 2004 report showed]…wind could create 11,688 jobs and add $3.9 billion in capital investments to Ohio's economy…Ohio actively is organizing and promoting its wind-power supply chain, which includes 170 companies that make bearings, fasteners, control systems, composites, gear boxes, brakes, generators, metal coatings, gears, hydraulics, sensors and electronics needed to manufacture the 8,000 components found in a typical utility-size wind turbine…When assembled, turbines cost about $2 million each.

"Ohio suppliers range from alloy steel and bearing maker Timken Co. in Canton to ring-bearing maker Rotek Inc. in Aurora and Cardinal Fasteners in Cleveland…An additional 500 Ohio companies are retooling to get into wind power…The Ohio Energy Office [is working with]…the Great Lakes Wind Network and…Ohio's Edison Centers to continue identifying companies that can retool, retrofit and replace facilities and business strategies to serve the growing demand for wind-power components…Ohio heavy industry, foundry, fabricating, heavy machine, coating, galvanizing and tooling industries are all in position to tap into the wind market…"

The wind industry can rejuventate the Rust Belt if U.S. policy supports growth. (clikc to enlarge)

"An Iowa turbine manufacturer reported that roughly half of the turbine components came from Ohio…A large wind-turbine manufacturer is based in Colorado, but its purchasing office is in Chicago to be closer to suppliers…Companies also could benefit from developing offshore wind turbines on Lake Erie and other Great Lakes…Despite its industrial base, Ohio is not a leader in turbine manufacturing and faces stiff competition from other states, like Iowa and Colorado, that were aggressive early on…Michigan, another hard-hit auto state, also is positioning itself to become a big wind-power equipment provider…[but] most developers want to be close to suppliers…because shipping a single turbine blade from Europe to the United States can cost $15 per mile…

"Turbine design has changed greatly in recent years — with turbines getting bigger and more efficient…[B]igger turbines with bigger components boost Ohio's position as king of the wind-power supply chain…because of increased shipping costs…There [is a growing number of] turbine manufacturers in the United States and Canada now, and about half of today's wind components are made in the United States…"


CHINA TO PILOT SOLAR-BIOMASS HYBRID
Solar and Biomass Plants to Work in Tandem in China
Todd Woody, January 11, 2010 (NY Times)

"China’s plans to build 2,000 megawatts of solar thermal power using technology from a California company, eSolar, will also include the construction of biomass power plants to generate electricity when the sun sets.

"The solar and biomass plants will share turbines and other infrastructure, reducing the projects’ cost and allowing around-the-clock electricity production, according to Bill Gross, eSolar’s chairman…eSolar will license its “power tower” technology to Penglai Electric, which will manage the construction of the power plants over the next decade…Another Chinese company, the China Shaanxi Yulin Huayang New Energy Company, will own and operate the first projects to be built in the 66-square-mile Yulin Energy Park in northern China."

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"A local shrub grown in the surrounding region to fight desertification, called the sand willow, will supply fuel for the biomass power plants, according to Penglai Electric…A 107-megawatt project in California being developed by a Portuguese developer plans to use a similar biomass hybrid solar design…

"…[O]ne issue with solar power plants in China is the large amount of land they require. …[T]he relatively small footprint of an eSolar plant compared with other solar technologies proved attractive to [Penglai Electric,] the Chinese developer of the $5 billion project."

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"ESolar’s power plants deploy fields of mirrors called heliostats to focus the sun’s rays on a water-filled boiler that on a tower. The heat vaporizes the water and the resulting high-pressure steam is piped to a power block, where it drives an electricity-generating turbine…

"The company uses a software control system and imaging technology to control 176,000 small mirrors that form arrays at its standard 46-megawatt power plant. The software positions the mirrors to create a virtual parabola to focus the sun on the receiver tower…That allows eSolar to make the mirrors cheaply and pack them close together to reduce the size of the power plant…[I]n California unskilled workers need 15 minutes training to learn how to install the solar fields…"


DETAILS ON BIOFUELS RISKS
US Ethanol Production Poses Economic, Environment Risks-Study
Isabel Ordonez, January 6, 2010 (Dow Jones Newswires via Wall Street Journal)

"The U.S. government needs to rethink promoting ethanol as a way to enhance energy security as production of the fuel is costly for taxpayers and poses economic and environmental risks...

"…[Fundamentals of a Sustainable U.S. Biofuels Industry] by the Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy notes that in 2008 the U.S. government spent $4 billion in biofuel subsidies to replace 2% of the U.S. gasoline supply. The average cost to the taxpayer of those substituted barrels of gasoline was roughly $82 a barrel, or $1.95 per gallon on top of the retail gasoline price, according to the study…"

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"The study…supported by a research grant from Chevron Technology Ventures, an affiliate of major oil company Chevron Corp…also questions whether mandated volumes for biofuels can be met and whether biofuels are improving the environment or energy security.

"Increases in corn-based ethanol production in the Midwest could increase environmental problems, such as damaging ecosystems and fisheries along the Mississippi River and in the Gulf of Mexico…The report also challenges the idea that [U.S.-produced corn-based ethanol] use lowers greenhouse-gas emissions…compared to the burning of traditional gasoline…"

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"Matt Hartwig, a spokesman for the Renewable Fuel Association, a trade group for the ethanol industry, questioned the study, saying it's biased in favor of the oil industry as it was funded by Chevron. Hartwing said the report fails to show that the oil industry has also benefited from tax credits for several years and it doesn't talk about the environmental risk of fossil-fuels…The Baker Institute and Rice University [say they] receive funding from a wide variety of sources and [have] a reputation for independence analysis…

"In 2007, the U.S. congress passed the Energy Independence and Security Act that mandated production targets for renewable fuels, mainly biodiesel and ethanol. In the law, corn ethanol is capped at 15 billion gallons a year, a level that, the report said, will be difficult to reach given logistical and commercial barriers. The law's goal that 21 billion gallons of advanced biofuels, produced from sources like switchgrass, corn stover and algae, to be used in the U.S. fuel supply by 2022 aren't achievable either and should be revisited, according to the report."


ENFORCING EMISSIONS TRADING LAWS
Four charged in Belgian carbon fraud probe
Antonia van de Velde (w/Nina Chestney and William Hardy), 11 January, 2010 (Reuters)

"Three Britons and a Dutchman have been charged by Belgian authorities with money laundering in an investigation into fraudulent trading in carbon emissions permits, Belgian prosecutors said…

"The fraud occurs when carbon credits are bought and imported tax-free from other EU countries, then sold to domestic buyers, charging them value-added tax (VAT). The sellers then disappear without paying the tax to governments."

How the scam works - until the authorities bust the scammers. (click to enlarge)

"The three Britons were arrested at the end of 2009 in the Belgian town of Tournai as part of an investigation into transactions worth some 3 million euros ($4.30 million)…A fourth suspect from the Netherlands was arrested on Sunday. Prosecutors would not disclose the names of those arrested.

"The three Britons set up a company in Tournai, in southwestern Belgium, which bought the credits in Britain and sold them on to banks via an intermediary, pocketing the 21 percent VAT charged in Belgium…The Dutchman lives in nearby Mouscron and works for a Belgian company which bought the credits and sold them on to the banks…The three British suspects have denied the charges. The Dutchman's position was not yet clear…"

Also, called The Missing Trader scam, it was used on cell phones before it was used on emissions allowances but nobody suggested abandoning cell phones because of it and it similarly is no reason to abandon emissions trading. (click to enlarge)

"Last December, European police agency Europol said fraudulent trading in EU carbon credits in the past 18 months has led to more than 5 billion euros in tax revenue losses for several EU nations…Last August, the British tax office arrested seven people in London in a suspected 38 million pounds value-added tax fraud in the carbon market. Several other EU states have raised concerns…

"A European Commission working group approved a proposal… to apply a "reverse charge" mechanism to carbon trading to prevent possible VAT fraud."